Learning to Ride

Luna as Cypress

Today we went to visit you and visited the farm.  Ana had a tough time getting Luna in from pasture, it seems that Grandmere wanted to play sillybuggers and get the group galloping around, making her chase them around.

She did eventually retrieve her, and after grooming and putting the tack on you rode her for a few minutes to see what was going on.  She was in quite a mood, probably due to changing weather, and was misbehaving (for her) quite a bit.  After she started listening better you adjusted the stirrups and I got on, since she was still being strange you put her on the lunge line for a little more control.

Cypress has startled and bucked a little on me but Luna really reacted.  I would squeeze her sides to get her moving forward and she'd act like I just goosed her.  When I got on her I was really focusing on the feel of my feet in the stirrups and balance and I'm really glad I did because it meant that when she startled or wiggled I was in the right place and never felt like I was off balance or in any danger.  That felt really good.

Didn't stay on her long and Ana rode her a little after I was done, but it was really nice to feel different tack, a different horse, a different environment, and not feel like a fish out of water and be able to work on something that I think helps me make progress towards being a better rider.

I had a lot of fun, thank you

Lesson the Thirteenth (Private)

Today was a fun lesson, and not just because I felt physically much better than the last one.  Cypress was being relatively well behaved up until I tried to put the bridle on him, the second I moved the harness to his neck he made a beeline for some hay and made it clear he was going to continue to eat if he could get away with it.  Rather than fight him on that, I put the harness back on and walked him to the arena and put the bridle on him there.  I almost got the lower part that goes under the chin in his mouth again but was looking for it and adjusted before putting the top bit around his ears.  Oh and I also checked the fit and sure enough it would have been too small, so I adjusted before even trying to put it on him.  Go me!

We worked on turning the shoulders where I lean back into one of his haunches to freeze it, pick up the reins and ask him to move while applying pressure to the girth on the same side.  I was fairly successful at it and Catherine seemed quite pleased, she said it was a very difficult thing to get just right.  As usual it then became a question of being able to do that at a walk, at a trot, etc.  Much more difficult, but I'm getting there, it'll take more practice to make it feel at all natural.

This was in aid of correcting him when he was being stubborn and not turning properly, not moving his shoulders, whatever.  There was a mare on a lunge line in the other half of the arena for the first half of the lesson or so and it seemed like he kept wanting to go over and say "hey baby how YOU doin" and I was fighting him on certain corners, so turning his shoulders like that was a correction to make him understand exactly what he was doing wrong.

Near the end she took off the bridle and put on the harness, got us on the lunge line and we worked on canter again.  It went a lot better this time, felt a lot better, still a long ways to go.  I told her I don't feel like I'm floating above the saddle, in fact quite the opposite, but at least I have an idea of what I'm going for.  She said it just takes practice, so for a little bit of time in each lesson we'll work on it.

She also said as we were putting Cypress back in his stall that she really liked having students like me who seem to learn quickly and progress well, so I'm very happy about that.

Private Lesson Number Twelve

Over the weekend I visited North Carolina for business and to see my brother and his girlfriend and drank waaaaay too much on Saturday night.

Yesterday I had a workout with my personal trainer where I felt horrible the entire time.  Today I woke up sore.

Last night I had massive insomnia and an overall horrible time for various reasons I won't go into here.

This is all relevant, I promise.

I slept in too much due to the insomnia and had to rush breakfast and coffee before driving out to the stables.  Got Cypress, groomed him (he was being a little bit of a butthead but not too bad mostly) but had a lot of problems getting the bridle on him.  Couldn't figure out why, the first time I got too much of it into his mouth and couldn't fit the rest over his ears, then after that he just was really obstinate and made it even harder.  So I put the harness back on him and went to look for Catherine so she could show me what I was doing wrong.

The biggest problem is that it was adjusted for a smaller horse and I didn't fix that, so it just plain didn't fit him.  I remembered she had said something about that in a previous lesson and saddle had the same issue, I feel dumb about forgetting that it was possible that they were on the right sizes for him.  But we fixed that and moved on.

Got him into the arena and I rode a little bit to get him warmed up and feel comfortable again, she took off his bridle and put the harness back on and attached him to the lunge line so we could... work on canter for the first time.

Okay now go back up to the top of the post to get the context again.

Cypress was in a bad mood to start, getting him on the lunge line and making him trot as fast as he can to get ready to try the canter made him even more surly.  At a certain point he was going very fast and I thought "wow okay this cantering isn't comfortable but I can handle it" and Catherine said "okay let's give him the signal to canter in 3... 2..." and I think my brain broke.

The first time he only cantered for a step or two but my left foot flew out of the stirrup and I think my eyes got very wide.  The next time we got a few more steps going and I felt like I was going to be sent to the side of the arena.  I started holding on to the horn and back of the saddle like she suggested and my arms, which were very sore from the workout yesterday, were very unhappy but just strong enough to keep me balanced and in the saddle.

She had me work more and more on getting into a better position with better weight distribution and balance and my posting got a ton better, having him going so fast and getting ready for cantering made all the difference in the world for that.

In the end we got a couple full circles at canter and I felt like I was solidly on and leaning into the circle and my weight was just about right.  I couldn't quite hover over the saddle with my butt the way I need to, but I at least could start feeling what I needed to do and what the right feel was.

That horse can go.

I asked "and a gallop is ever more than this?!" and she laughed and said "oh yes".

One thing that was tested many times during this lesson was my trust that as a horse he's not going to just run himself full speed into a wall because I didn't tell him to turn.  Every time he started getting close I wanted to grab the halter and tell him to TURN but I was finally able to let go of that after a few times around and know that he might do something dumb, but not that dumb.

It was fun and exhilarating, I hadn't felt that rush of adrenaline since sailing over the summer.  It felt a lot like my martial arts training used to, pushing myself physically to the edge and trying to do things I'm not sure I can handle.  Catherine said we're going to do a bit of it each lesson until I get the hang of it, and I have two more this week (since I'll be visiting Colorado for two weeks around Thanksgiving) and I'm really looking forward to it.

Eleventh Private Lesson

It was pouring down buckets today.

Mud everywhere, few survivors.

We got a slightly delayed start to the lesson today because Catherine had to have some words with her nine year old daughter, who reminds me in many ways of a cross between Katie and Ana.  If you can imagine that, some of the more willful aspects of each rolled into one, but she seems like a sweetheart when she isn't surled up.

We took Cypress to an inside cross-tie today for the first time and he was fidgety, I think he felt confined and of course it was a new thing which is never wonderful.  We got through it.  He was fussy again with the hoof cleaning, but I think that was also due to the environment more than anything.

Walked him up a ramp from there to the arena, they're adjacent, and she was quite happy with him going up it without any issues.  I did some of the groundwork we had worked on last week again and even though I forgot a few key things I did it only with harness and rope (forgot about the whip and some details on how to do it) I was quite successful.  Until Catherine returned. Then of course it got more difficult, but we added stuff back in and she corrected my technique and it started working great again.  Felt very good.

Next worked on picking up the pace and getting him to trot the circles and get more energy into the exercise.  That went pretty smoothly, a few issues to start with but again getting on him about what I meant not what he guessed I wanted was the key.

That transitioned into the "circle game", where I got him moving around in the circle and his job was to keep doing what he was doing until I asked him to change.  That meant moving around me in a circle at the same pace with me not push or driving or directing, just standing in the center and letting him move around while I moved the rope from one hand to the other, around the back, etc.  If he made a mistake I'd correct but otherwise let him do his thing until I moved to have him swing his butt around.

Since Catherine had worked with him on that just before me to show what needed to be done he was listening well and didn't give me many problems, after a couple tries he put his head down and was just awesome.

When we finished with that we were talking a bit about what to do next and some details and he just stood there, the most still I've ever seen.  She mentioned how she forgets how good that game is for him, it really gets him into his calm, trusting brain rather than his alert, survival oriented brain.

Put the western bridle on him then and did a little riding around the arena, trying to take those same lessons of leading, letting him continue what he's doing and only make changes or corrections.  It took a little while but as I went I had to do less and less to get him doing the right thing.  The hope is that I'll eventually only need to use the reins as a last resort and mostly be able to direct with weight and leg pressure.  Getting there.

She mentioned as we were wrapping up that I was ready to come ride on my own to practice.  How cool is that?  No idea when I'll get a chance, maybe a few times in December and early January, but it feels good to be making progress like that.

Tenth Private Lesson

Yesterday was a little nuts after the lesson itself so this is the first chance I've had to sit down and think well enough to write about it.

I got there maybe twenty minutes early because I was chomping at the bit (HA!) to start.  Catherine was doing some chores around the facility but we got Cypress out of his pen and she suggested that I let him free graze on the grass in the area and he'd be my friend forever.  The dude went to town on that grass, kept swinging his butt around and got close a few times to pinning me against a fence.  Not that I was in any actual danger but I kept moving around to the other side of him and then he'd mysteriously swing around again.

Didn't put a bridle on him at all this lesson, we did a lot of ground work first with applying pressure through movement and gesture and body language to get him to move in a particular direction then swing his butt around and face me when and only when I signaled to him that's what I wanted.  The part I had some trouble with was, and this sounds weird to me saying but makes complete sense in my body as I do it, pushing him with my shoulder in the exact right way to keep him going rather than getting him to swing around.

That took me a couple tries to get right, but when it worked it was great.  There was no physical contact, of course, but by placing my shoulder at the correct angle to him and moving it at the right speed it was a clear signal that he needed to continue in that direction.  Then shifted my stance and point the shoulder towards his haunches instead and he knew that meant move the butt around and face me.

Similar to the last lesson there was a lot of work in not letting him get away with stuff, and I think that's not only paying off but I'm starting to really understand well how it works.  He has a tendency, particularly with Catherine but also with me, to get right into your personal space and even nuzzle against you.  So if he's too close or starts moving in we made sure I shook the the harness rope to get him to back off to the correct distance.  Every time.

He loves to test his limits, I don't know if it is particularly with me or if he's like this for every student.  However I've noticed a big difference in him since we've started laying down the law and not letting him get away with things he knows he's not really supposed to do.

To end the lesson I got in the saddle (after he moved when I first tried to get on I really made that a huge pain for him to have done, big noise, big movements, chased him around in a circle) but we hadn't put a bridle on him, Catherine taught me how to ride and signal with the harness only.  It was pretty difficult, I had some success but it felt like there were times where he just wasn't listening to what my body was telling him and I wasn't quick enough moving the rope from one side of his head to the other.

I think she was really curious on what kind of trouble I was having so she got on after I was done and tried to do the same thing and had the same problems, and again was very complimentary and happy with how well I did under those circumstances.

A fascinating lesson.

Oh that reminds me, the new facility is Woodinville Stables.

Ninth Private Lesson

What a wonderful ride today.  I can't say enough, I felt so good, so at ease, everything was so much easier.  Even when Cypress was being a butt I never felt like I was wrestling him, just correcting and directing and making him listen.  Catherine was once again very complimentary about how it went and how I was learning and riding.  It felt very good.

Heck, on the drive out there I was smiling big and thinking "I get to ride!"

We started the lesson on a good note, Catherine wanted me to make it a huge pain for Cypress to misbehave from the beginning, so just getting the mounting block up to him was a big production.  He likes to scurry his butt around as soon as you step on the block, so when he did that this time I made him walk all the way around it, stop, then try again.  Just to make it more work for him to disobey than do what he knows he should.

He got the hint quickly.

If there were two themes for the lesson, it was that and saddle position.  Make it harder for him to do the wrong thing than the right, and try to stay in the right position in the saddle with my weight balanced correctly.  I seem to lean to the left too much, if a foot is going to come out of the stirrup it is always the right one.

Nothing new really technique-wise, just more practice at what we've been working on and trying to get it all working smoothly together, and it was very close this time.  Almost moved on to canter today but not quite, that may happen on Friday.

I'm liking the new facility, both in terms of location and what they have.  The last one we were at had a very long and narrow arena, this one is closer to square which I think makes it a lot easier to practice and is a lot more forgiving on mistakes and strangeness of behavior on the horse's part.

I'm really looking forward to Friday.  Oh and I haven't told Catherine about this blog yet, I'm going to email her in a minute to let her know.  Hope she likes it!